Adverse Possession Laws “aka Squatters Rights” are among the oldest laws and probably nearly as old as the 10 commandments. They have existed in some of the oldest recorded laws from Babylonia and have persisted through the Roman Empire then medieval times into British Common Law and then American Law.
The intent was to prevent waste of lands or eviction of people long subsisting on lands. Records/maps were very poor and some people may have already lived there since before legal ownership of that land even existed.
These laws may not fit with today’s very different world but this is not some recent liberal creation
Was totally unaware of that concept. So I looked it up.
Half the land out West is owned by the Federal government, vast acreages. You think if someone went out there and somehow claimed property secretly the government would recognize squatter’s rights; then drilled for oil on it?
Sounds like a good investment.